With their aging van no longer able to make trips out of state, the folks at the Bonney Lake Senior Center are taking matters into their own hands and have launched a fundraising drive for a replacement.
Leota Musgrave is spearheading the effort. Inspired by President Franklin Roosevelt’s March of Dimes campaign for polio, Musgrave and her compatriots have started collecting their coins in a large, glass piggy bank at the front of the center.
“I thought, why a march of dimes? Why not a march of quarters?” she said Friday.
Since the beginning of the year, the seniors have raised more than $6,000 toward the purchase of a new van, which Senior Center Director Sue Hilberg estimates at about $60,000.
Hilberg said she made the decision last year to limit the distance the van travels, since the mileage is getting up there and its primary purpose is to ferry seniors back and forth to the center.
Hilberg said the vans rolls over more than 500 miles of road every week as it is, before trips are factored in. With more than 140,000 miles already clocked on the odometer, the trip limit is designed to keep it going for as long as possible.
This has meant a halt to longer trips, like the annual jaunts to Montana to visit the sapphire mines or other out-of-state destinations.
“We can’t go in this van because they’re afraid it would break down,” Musgrave said.
Due to budget tightening, there is not money in the city’s budget for a new van. But the seniors are raising their own money.
At Friday’s craft sale at the center, Musgrave was selling plants with the proceeds going right into the pig. In addition to the plants, Musgrave has been saving and donating all her dollar bills that are stamped with a Federal Reserve District Number “6,” while Dorothy Dominguez is saving the ones stamped with a “4.”
In addition, Dominguez has been collecting recyclable cans.
“I’ve got a garage full again,” she said with a laugh.
In general, seniors and visitors also drop money into the pig, everything from the change from their lunch purchase to larger bills and even checks from visitors.
“The seniors drop money in that pig every day,” Hilberg said.
A larger fundraiser and dinner is being planned for October.
And while they have collected $6,000 already, there is still a long way to go until they can buy a new van.
“So far we bought a bumper and a horn,” Hilberg joked.
